N. Korea calls on U.N. to investigate Japan for human rights abuses

When it has been proven that Chosen-Soren was involved in the kidnappings of the Japanese citizens in Japan, I wonder why Abe acted the way he did. Shame on him.

North Koreans and Chosen-Soren are honest people!! Kim Jong Il is the savior from those Imperialist Americans.. They would never do something like kidnapping...

I can't believe North Korean government are actually complaining. Why don't they just return the Japanese abductees? Then they wouldn't be in this mess to begin with.

 

Hiko, I think your post of today is very fair and insightful.
But I have one question for you and numerous other folks here:
If this complaint to the U.N. had come from say the Ambassador from Brazil -- about the discrimination encountered by second and third generation Brazialian-Japanese -- would your reactions be the same?
It seems like many of you are simply dismissing the issue because it was raised by NK. (A noted Japan-hating country and led by a nut-case for sure.)
You yourself say "Foreigners get a tough time in Japan - there is no legal protection..."
Isn't that the real issue? And who filed the complaint is simply a convenient way for Japan to dodge the issue by saying "consider the source".

 

Discrimination suffered by foreigners in Japan is certainly "an" issue, and one of "the" issues Japan needs to correct with regards to its human rights record (rules governing detention of criminal suspects, discrimination suffered by other groups, lack of policing on human trafficking being other significant issues).

However, in the context of this article and this announcement by the KCNA, I do not think that discrimination faced by foreign residents in Japan is the relevant issue being raised by Kim Jong Il.

He is talking about "suppression" of the Chosen Soren. The only "suppression" that they are facing is that they have been asked to pay overdue property taxes, and raided by police once or twice looking for accounting records and evidence relating to former members believed to have been involved in assisting abductions.

Frankly, I think that the authorities have been relatively restrained toward the Chosen Soren, given the obvious hostility that was generated by the abduction and missile test kerfuffles, and reflects the strong influence that the Chosen Soren and North Korean community is able to exercise in Japan.

So Jerseyboy, yes, YOU identified the right issue, which isn't the one raised here. Kim Jong Il didn't, and I'm not sure he could even if he tried.

Perhaps he should read this site a bit.

Peace

 

I don't think that would happen, ties between Brazil and Japan remain good, and I hope the Nikkei and Brazilian community as well keep contributing to that here in Japan, in spite of the occurrence of misdeeds by a few maladjusted types.
Same in Brazil, where racism exist but on a non-violent level. Not just because it is punishable by law, but because the issue is taken very seriously.
I think the Portuguese have a lot to do with the fact that Brazilians tend to normally mix and relate with people of diverse backgrounds. I wish it stays that way.

As for NK, one of my best friends in Brazil is of N.Korean origin, she was almost born there but her family made it to Brazil before that. She does not wish to go back or have an NK passport. She 's hardworking, smart and fun.

 

Good post. North Korea should be the last country to criticize Japan on the case of human rights abuses. Japan may ''mistreat'' foreigners but not ANYWHERE near the scale NK does to its own people. Not even remotely close, period.

 

The ministry is asking to register and apply using Japanese scripts.

If a Chinese person who is applying for U.S. citizenships couldn't use Chinese characters in his application, would you be screaming "discrimination"?

 

So true. Many countries, like U.S., enforce loss of permanent residency and deportation if they commit a felony. But in Japan, these "zanichi" get to stay without the fear of being deported.

 

Slightly off topic:

I do not know whether it's because people are misinformed or simply downright ignorant but many people seem to have this ridiculous notion that Japanese Brazilians hate and despise Korean Brazilians. I would not be surprised if older generations did carry that prejudice against Koreans but from what I hear and read, they make it sound as if their going through the process Afro-Americans went through in 1960s America. I find that unbeliveable, especially in a country like Brazil.

 

Thehispanic, I don't understand your post at all. Really.

Since you quoted a small part of my post, I feel I must answer and tell you that I never heard such nonsense, that Nikkeis 'hate/despise' Korean Brazilians. There are notably differences in inherited culture between them of course, but together with the Chinese descendants, they're part of the Asian community in Sao Paulo. Plus, they are all Brazilians. Their parents/ancestors/older generations may be narrowminded about some issues, but I disagree that there is significant prejudice among young Asian descendants nowadays there. Of course that is no one's business, but fyi I'm Brazilian, of Japanese/Portuguese/etc ancestry and I've no problems relating to people of most any background in my country. I just mentioned one of my best friends is of NK descent, but she's Brazilian. Just as I have Portuguese, Italian, Lebanese, Turkish, Syrian, German, Spanish, African descendants Brazilians as friends. The Portuguese gave us inflation but more importantly they also gave us tolerance to other races, learning to live together with each other, because we're all a mixture at some point or another in Brazil. And racism is not only punishable by law, but socially very much looked own upon.

And mentioning the US in this is quite a stretch.

 

socially very much looked down upon=improper social behavior.

 

I referred to NK, not Korea as whole. Guess why my friend's parents don't wish to go back? The Brazilian way of life is much better, they are well received there not only but also because they are hardworkers and like most Asians, have a sense of moral duty, things like honesty and friendship. It's no wonder they are perceived that way by society in general in Brazil.

 

I brought the US up because some fool told me that the way Korean Brazilians were treated by Japanese Brazilians was the same scale the way White Americans treated Black Americans in the 1960s. Hence why I said found this unbelievable. There was this discussion about racism towards Koreans in another message board I posted in and some user said something about ''we Koreans are abused by the Japanese in Brazil''. I found this, as I said, totally exaggerated and a lie. To clarify, I said I wouldn't be surprised if OLDER generations of Japanese carried the prejudice many Japanese have against Koreans, not the whole entire population or the youth.

 

although I didn't see the discussion, the comment from that user was out of touch with reality.
Koreans, I never found them to be of the 'victim' mentality, at least in Brazil, but then I talk about those who were born there.

 

I met many Koreans here in US and found them wonderful at first.
With good manners and hard work, I became prefering them to Japanese youth, till I started reading JT posts and some Korean Japanese papers.
Meantime, after any associations with Koreans here, most Japanese figure out how racist they are as a group and how obsessed they are about being Korean.
Their wide spread practice of faking their racial identity and talking behind maliciously against
other races make it difficult for many Japanese as well as Cauacasians to have any meaningful relationship based on trust.

Sure, there are many Koreans with truly great character inside&out,
but I feel apprehensive around them unless I know them well and they were individually proven to be totally different from this stereotype. Too bad, those trustworthy Koreans seem unable to change their main stream cultural traits.

Japanese or Japanese Americans get nothing good from them, so why bother?

What NK has been saying and doing perfectly reinforce our feeling towards them.

 

Japan does not have the cleanest record on hurman rights and racism... but for North Korea to point that out is just plain laughable.

mtt, pls don't throw south koreans or kyobos in the same bag as NK. They do have some issues, but they're fun to be around overall.